GoPro hires former Microsoft executive Tony Bates as president

GoPro on Wednesday announced the appointment of former Microsoft executive Tony Bates as president of the action camera maker. He will also get a seat on the board of directors.

The 47-year-old will serve as second in command and will report to GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman. In a statement on the matter, Woodman said he was fired up to have a veteran like Bates join the team and that he will focus on the core business as well as scaling their fast-growing media operations.

Bates carries a storied career in IT, having served as a Cisco Systems executive for more than 14 years before taking over as CEO of Skype in October 2010. He joined Microsoft through its $8.5 billion purchase of Skype in May 2011 and continued to run the division until being appointed as executive vice president of business development, strategy and evangelism in July of last year.

He parted ways with the Redmond-based company this past March after failing to land the top job, a position that ultimately went to colleague Satya Nadella.

By all accounts, this looks to be a solid hire by GoPro. The company filed paperwork for a confidential IPO in February while last month brought news that they’re aiming to raise $100 million when they go public. GoPro was able to file confidentially because they earned less than $1 billion in annual revenue last year, coming in just under that mark with $985.7 million in revenue for 2013.